We welcome Christine Happel, the assistant director of the Age-Friendly Innovation Center. Christine discusses the vital services and resources available to seniors in Central Ohio.
Christine elaborates on the Senior Services Roundtable, a platform that connects seniors with essential resources and services in the community. The Roundtable’s effectiveness is in promoting collaboration, networking, and resource sharing.
Christine sheds light on the deep impact of the Roundtable, showcasing how it facilitates communication. Over a 10-year period, over 6,000 emails from 550 organizations led to fruitful connections and resource sharing.
Senior Services Roundtable is crucial for Age-Friendly Innovation Center
The Roundtable, under the Age-Friendly Innovation Center, serves as a crucial platform for information sharing, collaboration, and advocacy, with over 750 engaged members. It fosters a low-stakes environment where members can contribute as they are able and when needed. The Roundtable serves as a clearinghouse of information and ideas. This enables older adults to age in place, positively impacting the community.
The episode delves into the Roundtable’s evolution, emphasizing its seamless transition to virtual formats during the pandemic. Via Zoom meetings, the vital role of organizations in meeting the needs of older adults. The community rallies together to ensure the care and well-being of older adults in Franklin County.
The mission of Age-Friendly Innovation Center and the Roundtable
An essential aspect of the Roundtable’s mission is to champion resources, networking, and collaboration while offering opportunities for evolution and experimentation. Notably, the organization plans to continue implementing member requests and recommendations, with a forthcoming focus on providing free CEU opportunities in 2024.
The Age-Friendly Innovation Center’s successful initiative in Columbus is recognized as a model that could be replicated in other Ohio regions, leveraging networking groups to provide unique advantages for the roundtable model. The success of the Roundtable in Columbus is the collaboration efforts of community leaders, the support of the mayor, and local organizations.
We discuss the importance of promoting and sharing information about programs and resources, such as libraries, to support the existing work. Additionally, the Roundtable actively supports and promotes the library as a valuable and friendly resource. However, there are challenges in communicating and disseminating information to older adults. There are ongoing efforts to understand how older adults obtain trusted information and to improve communication in the community.
“Communication is something that is ever-changing and access to communication tools like technology is not equitable across our community.”
— Christine Happel
Technology challenges for older adults
We also talk about the challenges in technology access and digital equity for older adults, focusing on the Age-Friendly Innovation Center’s initiatives to address the needs of older residents in the community. Word-of-mouth is still an important communication tool as well as in-person interactions.
Christine discusses the significant challenges related to housing and transportation needs for older adults and the collective efforts of the aging network to address these issues through discussions, advocacy, and initiatives.
Past Looking Forward Our Way episodes we mention in the episode.
Age_Friendly_Innovation_Ctr_Resources_Sheet_2024We would love to hear from you.
Give us your feedback, or suggest a topic, by leaving us a voice message.
Email us at hello@lookingforwardourway.com.
Find us on Facebook.
Please review our podcast on Google!
Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle270Media Podcast Consultants.
Copyright 2024 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson
